Autumn has arrived in the Pacific Northwest. It’s getting colder, leaves are falling from trees, and the days are shorter now. As beautiful and cozy as this time of year is, it’s also the season of colds, which plague us with runny noses, coughing, and congestion, reminding us to make our health a priority. Some turn to herbal teas or supplements, but there is another, understated option to boost your health—cannabis tinctures.
Traditionally, cannabis is consumed by burning its dried marijuana flower, then inhaling and exhaling its smoke via a joint, bong, or pipe. But smoking cannabis isn’t the only way to consume it. Tinctures are a lesser-known cannabis consumption method dating back centuries. We love cannabis tinctures here at our Greeley Gallery dispensary because they are easy to consume, offer a more precise dosage, and have options for recreational and medicinal consumers.
What are Cannabis Tinctures?
A cannabis tincture is a liquid extract that’s made by soaking marijuana in a solvent, usually a high-proof glycerin or alcohol. This process extracts the plant’s active cannabinoids, including tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), along with terpenes and other beneficial compounds. This liquid is then packaged in a small glass bottle with a dropper attached to its cap. The dropper delivery method also makes tinctures perhaps the best option for cannabis consumption because it allows for precise doses which can be tricky to achieve when smoking or consuming edibles.
Smoking cannabis can irritate our lungs, and while eating cannabis-infused edibles such as gummies or chocolate are a nice alternative, some could argue that cannabis tinctures are an even better one. Why? Because cannabis tinctures have a similar onset time as smoking cannabis than edibles do. Allow us to explain.
Even though cannabis edibles and tinctures are both consumed orally, they are absorbed by our bodies differently, which also means they have different activation times. Since cannabis edibles are ingested, it can take hours for the cannabis to work through our digestive system before we feel its effects.
Meanwhile, since cannabis tinctures are administered sublingually, meaning under the tongue, the effects are more similar to that of smoking cannabis – around fifteen minutes.
The mucus membrane under our tongues is one of the fastest routes to our bloodstream, so dropping the cannabis extract there allows it to bypass our liver and thus significantly speed up the process. The direct access to our bloodstream also increases the bioavailability, or fraction of cannabis that reaches blood circulation, compared to edibles which get broken down and expelled by our digestive system before we feel the effects.
Recreational vs Medicinal
When people compare recreational and medicinal cannabis, they often mean THC and CBD. THC is responsible for the psychoactive effects, or high, associated with cannabis. Meanwhile, CBD doesn’t get us high but does have a strong, research backed, reputation for its medicinal properties. Either way, another advantage of cannabis tinctures is that there is a wide variety of them with varying levels of CBD, THC, or both, making tinctures one of the more customizable cannabis options.
For recreational cannabis consumers who enjoy the psychoactive effects of THC but don’t like smoking or vaping, tinctures like Hush Sizzurp with 250 mg of THC per bottle, or for those with higher tolerance, Farmer’s Friend Tincture which has 1,000 mg of THC. In addition to an intense high, the potency and bioavailability of cannabis tinctures means a little goes a long way.
However, some consumers are more interested in the medicinal CBD effects of cannabis, whether it’s pain relief or struggling with insomnia or anxiety. In this case, hemp-based cannabis tinctures, which contain only CBD, such as Angel Hemp CBD Drops or Siskiyou Sungrown tinctures, may be an ideal option. Additionally, since cannabis tinctures are absorbed by the mouth, CBD-dominant cannabis tinctures are an especially good option for people who have difficulty swallowing or are suffering from nausea, such as cancer patients.
But maybe you want both – to fly high with THC while also getting the full range of health benefits CBD offers – in which case, you’re in luck because there are plenty of tincture options, including the Farmer’s Friend Tincture mentioned before, that are hybrids.
Many cannabis tinctures offer varying ratios of CBD to THC, which is always labeled. When you see 1:1, it means there is an equal amount of THC as there is CBD, but you can also find options that are 3:1 or even 18:1, all of which create different levels of therapeutic and psychoactive effects.
Dosage
Even though cannabis tinctures are perhaps the most efficient and accurate consumption method when it comes to dosage, thanks to the handy-dandy dropper, you still need to know what your proper dosage is. If you don’t already know, you can find out the same way you would with any other cannabis consumption method – you start low and build slow.
Your goal should be to find your minimal effective dose, which is the smallest amount of cannabis necessary for either the psychoactive or therapeutic effects to take effect. We suggest this for three reasons:
- Consuming more than your tolerance can bring about undesired effects such as anxiety, sweating, or paranoia.
- Consuming more doesn’t mean you’re getting more benefits. Similar to supplements or vitamins, our body only requires a small amount, and anything more than that is purged from our systems. So, by consuming more, you’re really just wasting it.
- Only a couple drops of a cannabis tincture, or even just one, can be enough to provide the full range of benefits – and at that rate, it’ll take longer before you run out.
You can begin by taking just a drop or two of your tincture a day and slowly increasing the amount until you feel the desired effects. Keeping a dosage journal can also help you track how the tincture affects you.
Final Thoughts
Cannabis tinctures are one of our favorite products at Greeley Gallery because there are basically no downsides. Like edibles, cannabis tinctures are an alternative to smoking marijuana, which can irritate our lungs and be a bit smelly – but while edibles can take hours to kick in, cannabis tinctures require only minutes. Yet, like dried cannabis flower, there are many varieties and combinations of cannabis tinctures that allow for more precise personalization, not to mention more accurate dosing.
Of course, we always encourage you to ask our friendly and knowledgeable staff any questions you have or for recommendations—especially if you’re new to the world of cannabis. Greeley Gallery’s medicinal and recreational cannabis dispensary offers only locally produced, high-quality cannabis products and is open every day of the week between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. We hope to see you soon!
Written by:
Katrina Paulson
